Based on the Prime Minister’s speech last month, it is obvious that the Royal Addendum order relating to the house arrest for former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak does exist, so why is the government ‘hiding’ it?
KUALA LUMPUR – Based on the speech by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during a PKR Convention, it is proven that the Royal Addendum order by the 16th Yang DiPertuan Agong regarding the house arrest for Datuk Seri Najib Razak does exist, Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the media today.
He said the speech was evidence that needed to be included in the affidavit of the former Prime Minister’s application before it was informed to the court.
“Through the Prime Minister’s remarks after April 17, we know that there is indeed an addendum order regarding the sentence being served by Datuk Seri Najib Razak. We take those remarks and placed it in the affidavit as evidence.
Royal Addendum Order Not Enforced!
“It turns out that not only did the addendum order exist, the authorities including the Home Minister, Law Minister, Prison Director, Pardons Committee, including the Malaysian government, did not enforce the order!
“There should be no incident of concealing this addendum order,” Shafee added.
Following that, he took the evidence to the court and submitted it for the court to make a decision. He disclosed that over the past few months, he had made official requests to 10 relevant parties about the Addendum Order, but did not receive a reply.
“Just 10 days ago, I got a copy of the main order that mentioned about commuting the sentence to half – from 12 years to six years and about the reduced fine which we all know about by now. But there was no feedback about the house arrest.”
Shafee added that it turns out that the authorities who should be responsible did not carry out their trust.
Pahang Chief Minister’s Affidavit
The defence team had also requested to include an affidavit by Pahang Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail to support Najib’s application. He said the court confirmed their application and the relevant decision would be decided on 3 July.
Najib filed the application for leave for judicial review on 1 April.
He named the Home Minister, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Attorney General, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the Minister at the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), director-general of the legal affairs at the Prime Minister’s Department and the government as the first until the seventh respondents respectively.
In the notice of application, Najib sought a mandamus order that all of the respondents or one of them to answer and verify the existence of the Royal Addendum dated Jan 29.
Najib is seeking a mandamus order where if the addendum order exists, all or one of the respondents must execute the royal order and immediately move him from the Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur where he would serve his remaining sentence under house arrest.
On 21 May, Wan Rosdy affirmed a five-page affidavit in which he claimed that he was told about the Royal Addendum order by Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz late afternoon on 30 Jan.
On the evening of the same day, Wan Rosdy said he attended a meeting at the residence of Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in Country Heights, Kajang, whereby Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said were also in attendance, among others.
Grounds Of Secrecy
Wan Rosdy, who is an Umno vice-president, however, said that he did not have a copy of the addendum order on grounds of secrecy considering that the addendum had not taken effect.
Meanwhile, Shafee pleaded with media practitioners to be fair when reporting on his client.
“A lot of it goes unreported. Let me give you an example, although CNN did not like the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, their reporting was neutral, everything was there.”
In contrast, he added that in the case of Najib, a lot went unreported and the media seems to be cherry picking their news content. He urged the media to be fair.
Meanwhile, Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who represented the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), confirmed that the court fixed a new date for decision following the insertion of the two additional affidavits.
The two affidavits were one affirmed by Pahang Mentri Besar, Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail and another affidavit on a speech by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) 25th Convention at Pusat Konvensyen Ideal (IDCC) in Shah Alam, last April.
Objection
SFC Shamsul said the AGC made an objection on the two affidavits to be submitted as they were filed out of time.
Today was initially fixed for decision on the main application.
“However, the application (to insert the affidavits) has been allowed by the court,” he said when met by the press after the in-chambers proceedings ended. – NMH
Datin Hasnah is the co-founder and CEO of New Malaysia Herald based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
With an extensive background in mass communication and journalism, she works on building up New Malaysia Herald and it’s partner sites. A tireless and passionate evangalist, she champions autism studies and support groups.
Datin Hasnah is also the Editor in Chief of New Malaysia Herald.
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